


The Library

by AlexLKerr



Series: A Change of Plans [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Brotherly Affection, Brothers, Disability, Drama, Epilepsy, Family, Family Drama, Friendship/Love, Gen, Hugs, Hurt Sam Winchester, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Dean Winchester, Sibling Love, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 14:05:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexLKerr/pseuds/AlexLKerr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Outsider POV. Dean visits Sam's school during his lunch hour to provide moral support to his brother & a helping hand to the teachers that're giving a class presentation on Epilepsy in the library.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Library

Karen and Lucy sipped their coffees, dully watching the kids play on the carpeted stadium in the cheerful, well-lit library where they were  _supposed_ to be reading. Instead, the kids often enjoyed feigning 'falls' off the highest level and landing on the brightly colored bean bags they had stolen and arranged on the floor. They made  _themselves_  laugh, at least: getting into various poses and idly tipping themselves over until they fell. Karen's favorite was when they'd do the 'Thinking Man' pose, and then they'd give a last-minute character-breaking burst of laughter before disappearing from sight.

Karen and Lucy, best friends, and the two teachers of Team G, kept diligent eyes on the forty-some-odd fifth graders that made up their Team. The two of them often monitored the kids with sarcastic amusement at their goofy antics. Leaning against a couple of book cases next to one another, they'd finish their respective thermoses and call attention for the day's group activity.

Today, though, they were also waiting for someone to start the Team activity. Lucy looked at her watch. It was about nine in the morning.

"He should be coming by soon, right?" Lucy asked casually. Karen shrugged, her eyes narrowed on a small cluster of children that were playing with something that looked like an Elmer's Glue bottle.

"Luce, they're not sniffing that, right?" Karen asked calmly, nodding to the group. Lucy looked over.

"Nah they're just putting it on the backs of their hands and peeling it off after it dries," Lucy replied evenly.

"Ohhh," Karen smiled, nodding, "Okay got it. What were you saying?"

"Dean should be coming soon, right?"

Karen looked at her watch, frowned, and nodded her head.

"Yeah but he said he'd be a few minutes late. He's got to walk over from the high school."

"Mm," Lucy murmured in agreement, taking a sip of her coffee. Nancy, the librarian, walked over to them sporting a wide smile and bright blue eyes. Nancy, ever the scrap-booking hobbyist, kept the library's walls and bookshelves fully updated with educational posters and the childrens' artwork. Not a single surface was neglected. In fact, Lucy and Karen always preferred to lean against the poster of Patrick Stewart as Jean Luc Picard that encouraged kids to read.

"Hey guys!" She called to them energetically, her hands full of rolled-up posters and papers. Lucy and Karen turned to look at her, both accidentally giving her groggy morning expressions of distaste. "Whoa," Nancy responded to their attitudes as she fumbled around with her burden of laminated paper, "Jesus, guys, drink up," she said, gesturing to their coffees. Karen and Lucy started laughing.

"What's that?" Karen asked, nodding to the flyers in Nancy's hands.

"A surprise," Nancy replied, winking.

In honor of the day's special event for Team G, she'd ordered and received several Epilepsy Awareness and Seizure First Aid posters that could be used for the presentation and later posted around the library and school bulletin boards.

"I'm actually really looking forward to this. Did you guys know my nephew has epilepsy?"

"No way!" Lucy smiled graciously.

"Yep!"

"S'he okay?" Karen asked. She hadn't been the one to do the research on what this presentation was going to be, so she knew she'd likely be learning a few things during it along with the kids.

"Yeah, 'course he's okay. Touch and go with the dosage of his meds for awhile, but they got it to the right level."

"The  _therapeutic_  level," Lucy dropped the term, causing Nancy to nod jokingly.

"Good job, Luce, you get a star," she replied sarcastically.

"Oh shit, did we forget the stars?" Karen suddenly spoke up.

"Uh I don't know," Lucy replied, turning around to shuffle through their stuff.

"The kids won't raise their hands after awhile if we don't give them stars," Karen added.

"Don't worry I've got stars in my desk if you need them," Nancy assured them, and Lucy stopped searching, "But I almost guarantee you that you won't need them. Kids are gonna be pretty fascinated with this, I bet."

"Yeah, maybe," Karen commented doubtfully.

"Kare –  _you're_  going to be fascinated," Lucy said emphatically. "Seriously I spent hours looking at this stuff. It's fascinating. The kids'll love it, I think."

Karen shrugged, not yet convinced, but willing to go with Nancy and Lucy on the subject.

At that moment, the doors to the library opened and Lucy looked around to see Dean Winchester stroll into the library. He wore a dark, muted colors and a long-sleeved army green jacket with the collar flipped up. He spotted Lucy and cheered her with his own thermos of coffee as he approached.

"Ah here he is," Lucy announced. Karen and Nancy turned around.

" _That's_  Sam's brother?" Karen asked, surprised at how much older the kid seemed. Dean looked, 'cool,' even to  _them_ , and it bolstered their excitement for the presentation, as they knew the kids would think Dean looked, 'cool,' too.

"Yeah, what?" Lucy whispered back. Karen shrugged it off.

"Hey Dean, how are you?" Lucy asked kindly as he stopped before them.

"I'm good, yeah, good morning," he said amiably, addressing all three of them. Most teenagers were awkward in the company of adults, but Dean was exuding the sense that he was entirely on their level. Lucy had already met Dean, so she'd already known, but Nancy and Karen were just realizing that he was more than able to be a major contributor to this presentation. Hell, he was likely to make it a, 'hit.' They went through introductions, with Lucy introducing Dean to Karen and Nancy. Dean's handshake was practiced: an easy, casually firm grip that lent itself to the perception that Dean was a self-confident, easy-going young man.

"So we gonna start this? Are we going with the bracelets first?" He asked, interested, as he fumbled distractedly in his pockets and pulled out a worn pad of paper.

Impressed with Dean's bearing, Nancy smiled.

"I  _think_  so, but I think I'm just going to go where the kids take me," Lucy replied. She often improvised her presentations, trusting her knowledge to give a well-rounded performance no matter what. "Have you prepared stuff yourself?" Lucy added, looking at Dean's pad.

"Yep. I'll make sure to speak up if and when the time's right."

"'Kay, yeah. Don't let us steamroll over you if you have something to say. And especially if Sam has something to say."

Dean winked.

"That won't be a problem."

Dean took a sip of his coffee and while, normally, Nancy would be the first to gripe at a teenager for drinking coffee, it seemed an inappropriate comment for Dean. He behaved like an adult and so it felt out of place to mention that coffee stunts growth. Besides, he kind of towered over them already at five foot eight.

Dean looked around as he held the mug to his face, then lowered it and swallowed, speaking up immediately after:

"Where's Sam?"

"He's usually reading in the back," Nancy supplied and Dean smiled.

"You want to go get him? We'll round the kids up after you guys come out."

"Yeah sure, a corner in the back, or just the back?" Dean asked as he began to walk away in the general direction. Nancy raised her eyebrows and pointed.

"Ah, just, like, get to the back – You'll spot him in that hallway," Nancy called out.

"Okay see you guys in a few minutes," Dean winked again, smiling, as he made his way to greet Sam.

Karen, Nancy, and Lucy turned back to each other.

"Okay, I bet this is going to be good," Karen said, grinning knowingly. Lucy and Nancy laughed, understanding Karen's implicit message: Dean was going to be the showcase of this thing. His words would be like  _gold_  with these kids.

…

"Okay guys, c'mon, sit down on the stadium – Sit down! C'mon," Karen ushered as the kids swarmed around the stadium blocks to figure out where they'd settle themselves.

"C'mon, Sit down… Good job, Katie, Matthew c'mon… Matthew. MATTHEW!"

Nancy and Lucy were setting up the easel so they could put their posters up at the start of the presentation. Dean and Sam were already seated on the top-most corner of the stadium. Dean was leaned back, resting one arm behind his little brother as Sam was hunched forward, his elbows on his knees, paying close attention.

As the kids started coming out of the woodwork – out from the various library aisles and nooks and onto the blocks for the presentation, the usual swarm of shrieks, calls and yells that would punctuate their excitement fell to silence as they noticed Dean.

"Who's THAT!?" Christine shouted, pointing at Dean and looking up at Karen. Dean chuckled.

"I'll introduce you to him once you sit down, young lady," Karen shot back, and, with widened eyes, Christine ran and plunked herself down. She turned and stared, unabashed, at Dean Winchester. Dean waved, enjoying the celebrity status, and Christine lit up and waved back.

"You're not supposed to be here."

Dean turned away from Christine and looked at the boy standing directly in front of him. He wore a smug expression as he crossed his arms.

"You're not supposed to be here. You're not a teacher," he repeated obnoxiously. Dean noted that he was much bigger than Sam and narrowed his eyes at the kid.

"Says who?"

"Says me!" The kid replied.

"Sit down, kid," Dean said dismissively.

"ROB! SIT. DOWN," Karen shouted from the floor, having just spotted him. Rob flinched and, with a nasty look towards Dean, stepped down one block and settled himself. He was one of the last of the kids to sit and slowly, things were finally starting to come to order.

"That the kid you were talking about before?" Dean whispered into Sam's ear. Sam just gave a small nod and Dean frowned, leaning back again. A second later he moved up to Sam's ear again. "You nervous?" He said, smiling. Sam flinched, and slapped Dean in the stomach. Dean gave a huff and started laughing; Sam joining in two beats later.

"No I'm not nervous."

"Ah, liar."

Sam tried hard not to smile at Dean, then turned back to focus on the presentation.

"Okay maybe a little bit," he replied. Sam heard Dean chuckling and felt his big brother rub his back for a second in silent support.

"Okay guys, are we good? Settled? Peter, stop bothering Alex," Karen disciplined. Peter stopped bothering Alex and the two of them refocused to the front. "Okay guys, we're going to listen to Ms. Lucy and Ms. Nancy like we always do, right?" Karen asked.

The whole class drawled, "Yes, Ms. Karen," loudly. Karen smiled.

"Good! Now, I want to introduce someone that I know you've all noticed by now-"

Immediately about thirty-five heads swiveled in Dean's direction and Karen couldn't help but laugh.

"Guys, this is Dean. He's going to help us with the presentation. And we want  _you_  guys to help us, too, okay?" Karen said slowly, articulating herself so the kids could understand.

Dean raised his hand and waved to the kids good-naturedly.

"Hey guys," he said lightly.

"Hi Dean!" One child shouted, and the rest of the class followed, nearly screaming their respective hellos in excitement, causing Dean (and Sam) to laugh.

"SETTLE DOWN!" Karen shouted dramatically, and the kids started to relax and quiet. Karen was almost always the, 'wrangler,' when it came to things like this. Lucy tended not to raise her voice as often.

"Okay, so I'm turning this over to Lucy and Nancy. I'm going to be learning with you guys, too, so I'm going to sit over here-" Karen said cheerfully as she made some kids move over so she could sit. She gestured to Lucy and Nancy.

"Okay guys, how are you today?" She asked. The kids shouted their feelings: the consensus was, "good."

"Good! Okay we're going to be talking about  _medical conditions_. Does anyone know what a medical condition is?"

As Lucy chose on a student's raised hand, Sam leaned back and whispered to Dean.

"This is gonna take awhile if kids don't know what medical conditions are, Dean," Sam said skeptically.

Dean chuckled, shook his head, and whispered back.

"You said Lucy was a good teacher; she's just warming up, right?" Dean asked. Sam conceded, bopping his head until he replied back.

"Yeah probably."

They both turned back to look at Lucy.

"Okay, so what are some medical conditions we know about? Do you guys know? Alex?"

"ARTHRITIS!" Alex yelled out.

Karen looked over at Alex with slight disapproval, then looked back at Lucy, who was talking with Nancy. It looked like they had come to a conclusion on something and Lucy turned back to the kids.

"Yes, Alex, great job. There's even such a thing as Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis that affects kids like you guys," Lucy informed, and Karen raised her eyebrows in surprise. Lucy continued the class discussion. "What other conditions do you know about? Tom?"

"I have allergies!"

"Allergies are a really good one, Tom, good job. Sometimes different people can't eat certain foods because it'll make them sick. Peanut and shellfish allergies, for example, can be really dangerous to certain people. What else? Susan?"

"What about diabetes? My mom has diabetes," Susan offered.

"Diabetes, absolutely. Diabetes is when you have to pay attention to how much sugar is in your body. Can anyone think of any other medical conditions? Peter?"

"Down's syndrome?"

The class, 'aw'-ed at the reference, realizing they, too, knew about that condition.

" _Down_  Syndrome is another one, yeah, Peter, good job on recall! Do you guys remember the presentation we did on Down Syndrome earlier this year?"

Everyone in the class called out that they had, in fact, remembered the presentation on that.

"Okay, so we've gone through  _some_  really common medical conditions that can affect kids like you guys, but you guys  _haven't_  found the one that we're going to talk about today. Can anyone try guessing what it is?" Lucy led the class, hoping that someone would get it.

The kids lapsed into heavy thought. Sam and Dean were trying not to laugh. After about a minute, Lucy looked somewhat disappointed.

"Should you enlighten them or should I?" Dean whispered to Sam. Sam smiled back.

"You do it," Sam whispered back, feeling like the timing wasn't right. He felt kind of cool – like he was waiting in the wings to reveal his secret identity. The kids didn't even know Dean was his brother yet.

Dean shot his hand into the air, coughing loudly, and the whole flock of kids raised their eyes up to him.

"Dean! What say you?" Lucy called on him dramatically. The kids didn't pick up on the goofy speech of their teacher, though, their eyes glued on Dean.

"How… About…" Dean drawled slowly, getting the kids on the edges of their seats. A pin dropping could've been heard as the kids strained to hear him: "Epilepsy!?" He stage whispered as if it was a cool secret. Immediately the entire group of kids started whispering mispronunciations of the word, 'Epilepsy.'

"Epilepsy?" Lucy asked, feigning confusion playfully. Dean caught on fast.

"Epilepsy, Ms. Lucy," Dean replied, feigning utter seriousness, and noticed Sam was giggling next to him. Lucy turned to the rest of the class.

"Who can say it?" She appealed to the crowd. Suddenly, an onslaught of mispronunciations rang out.

"ESPILESCOPY!"

"EPILESPY"

"ESPELES- _POO_!" Shouted one of the kids, making them all burst into laughter, including Sam. Lucy took this as her cue to open the easel to reveal a large sign that read, "EPILEPSY," and start hushing the kids.

"All right, guys, sound it out with me: Eh-Pill-Ep-See…"

The kids sounded it out. Lucy asked them to pronounce it properly together, which they did in a cheerful chorus. Dean, Sam, and even Karen joined in, just for the fun of it.

"Okay good. Now that we know how to say it, who knows anything about it?"

Complete silence only excited Lucy further. This would be the first time any of these kids would learn about Epilepsy and she wanted to make sure she did it right. Dean leaned forward at the silence, realizing the same thing. As he leaned in, he felt Sam's hand move over onto his knee, uncertain. Dean set his hand over Sam's and narrowed his eyes, waiting for Lucy.

"All right. So we're going to talk about Epilepsy. Epilepsy has a  _lot_  to do with  _seizures_. Does anybody know what seizures are?"

"Oh!  _OH!"_  Alex raised her hand high in the air.

"Alex, you know about seizures?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"Yeah! I watch ER with my family and sometimes the people in them have seizures!" She said breathlessly, excited. Lucy blinked and tilted her head to the side, nodding.

"Yeah, actually. Does anybody else watch ER?"

About sixty percent of the class raised their hands.

"Wow," Karen murmured from her spot, impressed by the number of kids that watched ER. Suddenly, Dean's voice boomed out around the library.

"How many of you guys want to be doctors or lifeguards or paramedics when you grow up?" Dean asked, his eyes sparkling with expectation. At this, Dean felt Sam's hand remove itself from his knee to be raised up in the air along with about twenty-five to thirty other hands. Dean glanced at Sam, grinning, then out to the rest of them.

"That's  _awesome_! So, pay attention to this," Dean smiled, looking at all of them sincerely, and gesturing to Lucy with his thermos.

The kids who had all raised their hands tore their gazes away from Dean and back to Lucy, now on a mission to pay attention if it meant they could fulfill their dreams of being doctors.

Lucy was impressed by Dean's reframing of the topic and was greeted to a full blast of undivided attention.

"So, Alex," Lucy gathered herself and turned back to Alex, who was now on full alert. "Alex, what do seizures look like in ER?"

Before Lucy could stop her, Alex shouted back:

"They look like this!" And, with the innocence of a ten year old, proceeded to shake and flail around in her seat, making the entire class burst into laughter. Dean startled, his expression turning from light-hearted to concerned anger in the space of a second.

"ALEX! Stop!" Lucy yelled. She glanced at Dean and bit her lip as she approached Alex to restrain her from continuing. Lucy knew Alex, though: she was a clown (along with her friend, Peter), not a bully. She didn't mean to be insensitive; she was just taking advantage of the physical humor.

Dean, meanwhile, put his hand on Sam's back, noticing that Sam had covered his mouth, staring at Alex. He felt a small tremor along Sam's back and, leaning forward, tried to get a gauge on how Sam was feeling.

"God, Alex, STOP!" Lucy called out. Just then Alex, in cahoots with Peter, turned around and deliberately slapped him in face, making the entire class burst into laughter again as Alex and Peter began having a fake slap-fight with one another. Dean felt Sam start to shake and, worried Sam's feelings were being hurt, pulled his kid brother's hand away from his mouth to see his face.

Sam was actually laughing.

Karen pulled Alex away from Peter and had them separated. Alex was ordered to go sit over closer to Sam and Dean.

"OKAY!" Lucy announced, slightly peeved, but when she saw Sam's genuine smile over the whole ordeal, and Dean's gentle nod in her direction, she felt better.

"Okay, so, that's not exactly how I wanted you guys to, 'learn,'" Lucy air-quoted, "-about what a seizure looks like, but now that Alex has so  _wonderfully_  demonstrated," Lucy's sarcasm was crystal clear and Sam shuddered with laughter again, "I'm wondering if you guys are familiar with what seizures are  _now_?"

The whole class, now, raised their hands. Lucy blinked in surprise.

"Really?" She asked. The class called back in the affirmative.

"Uh, okay," she replied, slightly confused but willing to continue. Perhaps Alex's goofy rendition of a seizure triggered their memories of movies they'd seen of people having seizures or something.

"Okay, so. Let's move on, then. You all laughed at Alex when she pretended to have a seizure, right?"

The class giggled a little bit, reliving the moment, and nodding.

"Right. So you guys laughed. But, do you think  _real life_  seizures are funny?" Lucy asked, hoping like hell they'd give her the right answer.

Just then, Dean's hand shot up in the air.

"Dean?" Lucy called immediately, and everyone turned around to look at Dean.

" _No_ ," Dean said emphatically. Sam turned to look at Dean, too, interested to hear what his brother had to say.

"Could you explain why you don't think seizures are funny, Dean?" Lucy asked. Dean smiled, licked his lips, and leaned forward, looking at the entire class – hitting eye contact with as many of the kids as possible.

"So, the seizure I think Alex was pretending to have is called a Grand Mal, or a Generalized Tonic-Clonic seizure. That type of seizure, especially, has the potential to hurt the person that's having them. So, when you see somebody that's having  _that type_  of seizure, it's not funny, because they could be in danger."

Lucy, ever the improvisational teacher, flipped a page of the easel and wrote while Dean was speaking: "What To Do During Grand Mal Seizures," and then beneath it, two categories: "Do's," and, "Don't's." She turned back around and silence greeted her: the kids were still staring at Dean with respect. Smiling, Lucy spoke up and the kids turned their attention back to her.

"I want to see hands, again, of the kids that want to be doctors or medical professionals," Lucy announced.

A flurry of hands went up again, including Rob's.

"Rob," Lucy pointed to the boy that had told Dean he wasn't meant to be there. "Rob, what do you think  _you_  could do if someone had a seizure - to stop them from being in danger?"

"Um," Rob said, uncertain, "Give them medicine?"

Lucy smiled.

"Good try, but no," she said as she wrote Rob's answer under the, 'Don't,' category. She turned back around, "This goes for  _all_  seizures, you're  _never_  supposed to give food or drinks to the person having a seizure."

At this, Dean interjected.

"You're not even supposed to give CPR during a seizure – one rule of thumb, guys:  _Never_  go near the person's mouth with  _anything_."

At that, Susan raised her hand. Lucy turned and nodded to her student.

"I thought you were supposed to put something in their mouths-"

"NO!" Sam and Dean yelled together from the other side of the stadium blocks. Dean started laughing with Sam and leaned forward to explain as Lucy turned around to write, "Put something in the mouth," under, 'Don't's.'

"Susan," Dean said kindly, "It's dangerous when you put anything in the mouth of someone who is seizing. The reason why is because when they're jerking and shaking around, their breathing is sometimes  _not normal_ , and so you  _never_  want to put anything in their mouths that could block their airways. Do you understand?" Dean added, wondering if he had made sense. Susan nodded, mouthing the words, 'okay,' to Dean.

"Okay, who else? Who else thinks they know what to do when someone is having a seizure? Joey?"

"Hold them? Like hold them down? In ER when patients start having seizures, the doctors hold them down in the beds," Joey explained. Lucy smiled again, somewhat sadly, as ER was doing a terrible job with awareness on the seizure front.

"Okay. Excellent reasoning, Joey, buuut," Lucy drawled as she wrote, 'restrain/hold the person down,' under the, 'don't's' category. The class let out a disappointed, "Awww," on Joey's behalf.

"Sorry, Joey, but no. You're not supposed to hold them down. The reason being that the person who's seizing could hurt  _you_  and they can also hurt  _themselves_  when and if they hit you during the seizure."

"Is there a way to make a person  _stop_  seizing?" Alex called out her question without having raised her hand.

Behind her, Dean leaned forward to answer. Again, the children's eyes gravitated towards Dean's.

"The answer to that is  _no_. Never. You always have to wait the seizure out. You have to wait for the person to seize to stop seizing."

"Right, so, let's review, guys," Lucy announced after letting a few moments pass for Dean's words sink in.

"If you can't give them medicine, put anything in their mouths, or hold them down during a seizure, and all you can do is  _wait_  for the seizure to stop, what stuff can you do to make the person who's seizing  _safe_?"

At this, Sam raised his hand. Dean cocked his head to the side, a satisfied smile on his face. Lucy was radiant as she called on Sam. He took a heavy breath and launched into the, 'big reveal.'

"If I start seizing, you're supposed to clear the area and make sure that I don't hit a lot of stuff," Sam trailed off as everyone's eyes turned to him in confusion. Sam looked over at Dean, who gave him a few encouraging nods, and Sam turned back around to his class. He gulped. "Turn me on my side and time the seizure, if you can. Anything over five minutes means 9-1-1, but I've never had to go to the hospital – most of my seizures are like two minutes tops," he finished, blushing as his peers started whispering in awe.

"Whoa, cool," Sam could hear a kid nearby murmur. Sam suddenly felt the sense of celebrity that Dean had had all along as the kids' whispers got louder about how Sam had epilepsy.

"Also," Sam's voice rang out, "A pillow would be nice! – During the seizure, I mean," he added with comedic flare, and the class burst into laughter. Dean was delighted to watch the whole class become enamored with Sam.

Lucy, grinning ear to ear, brought attention called out to the class.

"Yep, guys, the cat's out of the bag. We have someone with Epilepsy right here in this very room and Dean, here, is Dean  _Winchester_ , Sam's brother. They are  _experts_  in Epilepsy."

The whole class, 'Oh'ed and, 'Ah,'ed in awed understanding.

Now, they were really excited. And Sam felt like a superstar as Lucy continued the presentation, every once in awhile deferring to Sam and Dean's comments as she led the class through understanding what Epilepsy was – and particularly that not all seizures were the big, shaking ones most often seen on television. She went through partial simple and complex seizures as well as the other types of generalized seizures besides the grand mals. Sam got to explain the myoclonic seizures he had, as he was always aware of them when they happened.

"Usually it's just like, my hand or leg or whatever," he shared, "But, like, I won't  _slap_  anybody," he quipped, looking straight at Alex and making the crowd start cracking up again.

When Lucy got to absence seizures, Sam was eager to point out that she'd mispronounced the word.

"It's pronounced, ' _Abs-au-nce_  seizures,' not, ' _ab-since_ ,' Ms. Lucy," he'd said respectfully, and, thrilled, Lucy changed her pronunciation immediately.

And when Lucy got to Atonic, or drop attack seizures, Sam almost had the kids rolling on the floor about how he once fell into a plate of spaghetti. Dean remembered that moment and started laughing out loud, too, recalling his joking reply to Sam when he'd come to: he had been, 'totally sauced.'

As the time passed, Lucy noticed that Dean was, while paying rapt attention, fading out more and more in his contributions to the discussion. In equal measure, Sam was getting more talkative, and Lucy realized she was probably witnessing one of Sam's first experiences in self-advocacy for his condition.

"All right, guys, so now we know about different types of seizures, and we've had a few good laughs, but what did Dean say earlier about seizures?"

By now, Dean had said so much – as had Sam – that the kids were at a loss. Lucy smiled.

"Are they funny?" She prompted.

"NO!" The kids shouted, giggling.

"You guys are giggling. I want you guys to settle down because this next part is  _really_  important. We don't have that much time left to talk about it, either, so you all  _NEED_ to  _Pay. Attention_. Do you understand?" Lucy asked, her voice calm, steady, and serious. She was lying about the time, but it was a speaking strategy that made the kids listen more closely.

She pulled a sheet over on the easel and, in large block letters, wrote, "Postictal period."

Dean leaned forward and put his arm around Sam, his hand over his mouth. Sam turned and noticed his brother's, 'serious face.' Sam didn't know it, but  _this_  was the part that Dean wanted the kids to hear, and take to heart, the most.

"Okay, so-" Lucy stood back up and looked around at the kids she was teaching. "No joking anymore, promise?"

The kids promised.

"After  _any_ type of seizure, a lot of times there can be a Postictal period. A postictal period is something where the person that just had a seizure wakes up and," Lucy bent down and wrote the words she spoke on the board as bullet points, "they can feel  _confused_ ,  _tired_  - or sleepy-, they can have  _headaches_ , or  _feel sick_  to their stomachs," she finished. She stood back up and looked at the class. "Sometimes they have a hard time speaking or walking, too," she added meaningfully. "Okay?"

The class was silent, and Sam didn't know what to say. Ms. Lucy had just laid out every symptom that he had ever had in the aftermath of a seizure, plus a few he hadn't had, but, no matter what, all of them  _sucked_. He didn't feel like going into it any further. He felt Dean press him into a hug before letting go and leaning towards the class. Sam turned to look at him, surprised, as Dean coughed for attention.

"The biggest thing you guys have to know is that, when a  _real_  seizure happens with  _anybody_ , not just Sam,  _anybody_ , you've  _got_  to call for an adult and make sure they're taken care of. You need to make their surroundings clear and safe and, when they wake up, you  _need_  to be patient and careful with how they're feeling. Seizures are  _exhausting and painful_ , sometimes. So, when someone wakes up after a seizure, you've  _got_  to make sure that you give them the time –  _as much time as they need_  - to recover by  _helping_  them rest and by being  _supportive_. Because they're  _not_  happy campers when they've just woken up," Dean finished, trying to tack on some brevity at the end, but failing. The kids just stared at Dean, looking relatively stricken.

"Dean is absolutely right, guys," Lucy replied loudly, and the kids slowly turned back to the presentation, giving Dean a couple double-takes as they did so. Sam, however, remained looking at Dean. He leaned in to whisper to his big brother.

"I think you scared them a little bit."

"What? Really?" Dean asked, surprised. He hadn't known his tone had gotten edgier as he'd spoken. Sam gave a small laugh.

"Yeah it sounded like you were gonna hurt somebody," Sam replied.

"Nah, I'm not gonna hurt anybody," Dean answered lightly, smiling, and took a sip of his, now cold, coffee. He tilted his head, reconsidering. "Well, maybe-"

"Dean!" Sam whispered in laughter.

"If they don't do as I just said, I might hurt them," Dean explained, winking at Sam who, in turn, gave a small punch to his older brother. Dean gave a few silent laughs and put his arm around his brother again. Sam leaned into him, this time, and, after a few minutes, turned around and suddenly came up  _really_  close to Dean's ear. Confused, Dean hunched down and furrowed his brows, intent on listening to whatever Sam would say that needed to be  _so_  quiet.

"Thank you," Sam barely whispered. Dean squeezed Sam as he quickly resettled himself to face towards the front again.


End file.
